Grave Meeting
by Mysteria Pearl
Summary: A grave Meeting: Seto x Shizuka. Seto and Mokuba go to visit their deceased parents on Christmas morn, and Seto seems to lose his way, only to meet someone quite unexpected and is reminded what Christmas is really all about. Christmas special!


**A grave Meeting: Seto x Shizuka. Seto and Mokuba go to visit their deceased parents on Christmas morn, and Seto seems to lose his way, only to meet someone quite unexpected and is reminded what Christmas is really all about.**

**Grave Christmas**

* * *

"C'mon Seto!" Mokuba called as he skipped down the stone path of the cemetery, a large reg and green bouquet in hand. Seto grunted as the young raven-haired boy ran off over the hill. Tombstones and monuments littered the ground heavily close to the high black Gothic-style entrance gate. Seto looked up silently into the sky and stuffed his hands into his pockets.

'Why does Mokuba always insist on coming every Christmas Eve?' Seto thought sulkily to himself as he stuffed his hands in his pockets and continued in the direction he had gone hundreds of times. 'It not as if they actually appreciate it. They're dead.' he thought bluntly.

"Besides," he said aloud, "It's cold and dreary out here." His expensive leather shoes clacked loudly on the walk. A large gust of wind sliced straight through him; cursing to himself, he pulled his flowing designer jacket tighter around him.

'Some Christmas.' he thought sarcastically to himself. For the first time in many a year, no snow had fallen. All the landscape was a dead gray colour and the trees were bare and ugly. The sky was dark and it was already nearly ten in the morning. Not a bird or a deer was in sight and the awful cold tore at his face and hands. 'All Christmas means is more greedy kids get what they want. It's all about instant gratification.'

As he came over a large hill, he came to a spot that he hadn't been before. Thinking he had walked too far and had somehow passed his brother and his destination, he looked about slowly.

It was like a small cove, hidden from the rest of the graveyard. A bit of colour caught his eye. There, across the way was a girl in black sitting quietly before a gravestone. She wore a ruffly black dress and a long thick black bow in her hair. Her red hair blew in the sporadic wind and her pale hands were clasped around a small bouquet of white flowers in her lap. A large white bare tree overhung her and a small white stone bench sat across from the grave. He stopped and stared at the lady. He had seen her somewhere before... on a magazine cover? In a movie? Where? He shrugged. It didn't really matter, he supposed.

Just as he turned to leave, though, the girl looked up and called out to him,  
"Hello!" She said. her voice cut through the air like a pure silver bell. He stopped. "You're Kaiba Seto, yes?" Seto turned back to her and grunted. She laughed unexpectedly and rose gracefully,  
"Ah! You probably don't remember me!" she said with a bow, "You and my brother--Jonouchi Katsuya-- used to be rivals. I'm Kawaii Shizuka." In a moment, it clicked. She was that little girl that was caught in virtual reality-- the one back at the dock. He remembered her. She had grown much more beautiful that when he had last seen her, he hated to admit to himself.

"Ah." he said, grating his teeth at the memory of the dog, "You're the mutt's sister. It's been a long time." he said slowly as she glanced back anxiously at the grave and then back up at him.

"Yes," she said, seemingly distracted, "It's been seven or eight years." she mumbled, her eyes never leaving the grave. He looked past her at the simple monument. Something-- he wasn't quite sure what-- made the snappy remarks fails his lips. Every rude comment about the mutt or the cold shoulder that he could have given her minutes before simply left him. He had no idea what came over him.  
"Whom are you visiting?" he asked, for reasons unknown even to him. Why did he care? Seto didn't want to be there himself. Why should he care why someone else was there?

She wound her way to the stone bench and sat down. Seto followed her but remained standing a little ways off,  
"My mother." Shizuka ran her fingers along the edge of the tombstone. "She... well, her mental health began to decline slowly," Shizuka said, seemingly in a dream, "She would scream so loudly... but it was my fault... I just could never do anything good enough for her. And then, she shot herself." Shizuka winced but then regained her composure. "That was five Christmases ago... right after Katsuya got married."

Seto scoffed, "Let me guess, to that busty blonde?" Shizuka smiled up at him and nodded, "He and Mai have been married and are expecting a second child in a few months."

While Seto marvelled silently to himself, Shizuka continued,  
"After that, father remarried and moved away." she said.

"So you're alone." Seto said quietly. He had never really been alone on a Christmas, now that he thought about it. One Christmas his parents were still alive and the next, he was in Kaiba's home. And... he always had Mokuba.

"Christmas must be very depressing." Seto stated bluntly. As he said that though, the lady did something most surprising. She smiled. She stood and danced up to the tree,  
"Not at all." She said turning and smiling up at him, one arm wrapped around the large trunk and the other grazing the grave. "Christmas isn't about what you don't have, it's about what you do have."

Seto raised an eyebrow. This was an anomaly. Someone who wasn't obsessed with getting things for Christmas?

"After all, I've got a big brother who loves me, a great sister-in-law, a sweet nephew, and a roof over my head. I've got it all!" She said happily, "And besides, I've got great memories of Christmases past: of Katsuya and I decorating the tree... and of mama... and papa..." she stared off longingly into the sky, "Precious memories are better than presents. And even though my mother and father are gone, I still love them..."

"You are a very strange person." Seto said softly. Shizuka looked up at him,  
"How so?" she asked, tucking a long strand of red hair behind her ear.

"All December, I thought that all everyone cared about was what presents they wanted. The media has made everything so commercialized. But you're different." he said.

Shizuka smiled,  
"Thank you."

Seto realizing how long he had spent with the lady.  
"Mokuba will be looking for me." he said.

"Tell him hello for me!" Shizuka said as he turned. Seto nodded and continued back up the hill. "Merry Christmas!" Shizuka called after him.

He turned back to the lady in black,  
"Merry Christmas."

As he continued on his way, Mokuba came running up to him with the large bouquet still in his arms,  
"Seto! Where have you been!? Did you get lost?" he asked with large eyes.

Seto smiled calmly down by the boy and took the heavy arrangement from him,  
"No, I ended up exactly where I was meant to go. Now, we have somebody to wish a merry Christmas." Mokuba's eyes lit up,  
"C'mon! They're right over the hill!"

Seto followed the practically bouncing boy. It was no accident that he had happened upon Shizuka.

"How do you feel about having an old friend over for dinner?"

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**Well, I hope you liked it. Do you think I should go on or should I leave this as a one-shot? (I originally created it as a one-shot, but I could make it a two-sot if necessary...) Anyhow, please review! I really appreciate it! Thanks! Merry Christmas!!!**

**Mysteria Pearl**


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